More assessors and councilors in small and medium-sized regions, first approval for the bill: here's what's changing

The Senate has approved a bill from the majority group leaders, which allows small and medium-sized regions to increase the number of their assessors. The green light came on Thursday, July 3. There were 71 yes votes, 16 no votes and 30 abstentions. The bill now goes to the Chamber for consideration.

The provision, which is composed of two articles, establishes that the number of regional councillors must not be modified if the demographic variation in decrease is contained within 5 percent compared to the thresholds established by the current legislation and allows Regions with a population of up to one or two million inhabitants to increase the maximum number of regional councillors by two units (the president of the Regional Council is included in the number of councillors to be considered as the basis for calculating this determination).

Here are the solutions provided in detail.

The maximum number of regional councillors may be increased by two units in regions with a population of up to one million inhabitants and in regions with a population of up to two million inhabitants.

A certain flexibility is introduced in the law that establishes the number of regional councilors based on population. In particular, the number of regional councilors previously established is maintained if the population decreases or increases within the limit of 5 percent. During the examination in the Commission, the League had presented an amendment on the third mandate, which was however rejected.